The rivers in the sky hold the key. The strength, location and duration of atmospheric rivers – ribbons of water vapor that extend thousands of miles from the tropics to the western United States – will be the deciding factor in how much rain and snow falls in California this winter, and whether a disastrous “ARkStorm” flood could conceivably occur, experts told USA TODAY. … ”I am concerned about this winter,” Daniel Swain, a climate scientist with the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, told USA TODAY. “Due to the very strong El Niño, the risk of a severe ARkStorm-like flood resulting from weeks of heavy precipitation is more likely in a year like this one.” …The original ARkStorm scenario was developed in 2010 by scientists mostly from the U.S. Geological Survey, and reflected the potential for a flood event of truly biblical proportions. 

Other California El Niño news:

• The San Diego Union-Tribune: A major shift in the atmosphere clears the way for El Niño to pound Southern California
• Los Angeles Times: What the El Niño worst-case scenario would look like in California
• Los Angeles Times: O.C. coast is losing battle against El Niño flooding, and it’s about to get worse
• CapRadio (Sacramento, Calif.): With El Niño on the horizon, can California’s flood protection weather natural, political uncertainties?
• CBS Sacramento (Calif.): UC Davis study identifies likely points of failure for Calif. infrastructure from El Niño flooding
• inewsource (San Diego): El Niño rains increase flood risk at Lake Hodges, home of California’s most dangerous dam
• The Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.): Is the waste at California’s only working nuclear plant safe from high tides and El Niño?